Rexahn Announces Conclusion of Phase I Cancer Clinical Trial
10/18/2006 New Rochelle, NY press release Genetic Engineering News (www.genengnews.com) Rexahn Pharmaceuticals (OTCBB:RXHN.OB), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development, and commercialization of innovative treatments for cancer, disorders of the central nervous system and unmet medical needs, today announced the conclusion of the Phase I clinical trials of its leading oncology candidate, RX-0201. RX-0201 is a first-in-class signal inhibitor that directly blocks the production of Akt, a protein kinase that plays a key role in cancer progression. Akt is over-activated in a significant number of cancers, such as breast, colorectal, gastric, head and neck, ovarian, pancreatic, prostate, and thyroid cancers. Akt's transformation ability, as well as its role in cancer progression, makes it a highly attractive and unique target in the treatment of cancer. The clinical trial of RX-0201, which took place at Georgetown University and the University of Alabama, was an open-label, dose-escalation study intended primarily to determine the safety and tolerability of the drug in patients with advanced cancer. The trial has demonstrated that the dose limiting toxicity of RX-0201 occurs at 315 mg/m2 dose in the form of fatigue. No other serious adverse reactions such as hematological toxicities were observed in this study. The Company expects to file a complete final report of Phase I results with the FDA in early 2007. Of the clinical trial, Dr. Chang Ahn, Chairman and CEO of Rexahn, said, "We are very pleased that RX-0201 has successfully concluded Phase I. As a company that is focused on developing [...]